The Beginning of Always
by pour l'amour du stylo
Summary: Ginny works as a nurse near the battlefield where Harry is trying to destroy Voldemort. When Harry is carried into the nursing tent, with a mysterious illness, Ginny’s life changes completely. The question is: does she still love him? Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1 Memories

**Chapter 1 Memories**

The day they carried Harry in on a stretcher, barely conscious, was the only day Ginny Weasley almost fainted on the job.

She had been training to become a Healer for a few years, before the war, and was doing well in her studies. The month before she graduated, her family got a rather terse note from Harry, Ron, and Hermione by owl. This was one of the very few they received. One the note were four words which made Ginny's hair stand on end still to this day.

He's coming. Be ready.

That's all it had said. There was no signature, but they all recognized Harry's small, untidy penmanship. Ginny dropped out of Healer's school the next day. She was going to war to be a nurse. Deputy nurse, that is, because the only other person willing to do it was entirely too old to deal with the stress.

So there she was. Standing on a battlefield in a huge tent, scads of young wounded men with strange symptoms surrounded her. They carried Harry in on a red stretcher. Ginny had a feeling it wasn't red this morning. Setting him gingerly on an empty bed, they backed away, looking at her expectedly. She jumped, and realized that she was supposed to be attending to him. She walked quickly over to his bed, looking him up and down, trying to gauge the damage.

This felt so strange to her. She hadn't seen him since Bill and Fleur's wedding. He, Ron, and Hermione took off, and refused to tell anyone where they were. They sent letters every week in the beginning. As the years wore on, they were lucky to get one every six months.

Ginny sighed. "Broken leg…broken wrist…sprained ankle…" she murmured to herself, as she checked his pulse to make sure he was still with her. The people that brought him in left quickly, no doubt to return to the battlefield to bring more wounded soldiers to her.

"Mmm…I'm fine…really, I have to go back—" he said, struggling against her arms, his eyes still closed.

"No, Harry. You're not fine. Stay there," she said, her voice much stronger and sure.

At her words, he froze. He knew that voice. "Gin?" he asked, opening his eyes.

"Harry." Ginny looked into the bright green pair of eyes that were full of anxiety and fear. "What hurts the most?"


	2. Chapter 2 Is it Really Love?

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**Chapter 2 Is it Really Love?**

He didn't answer her for a few seconds. "What are you doing here?" he said finally.

"I'm the Deputy Nurse. I've been here for nearly six months. And you haven't been in here once, so tell me what happened." She looked at him, concerned.

He sighed, and lay back down on the bed. "I was fighting someone…I can't remember who. He went right, I went left, we collided, he sent some weird spell at me, and then I fell into a ditch or something." He paused. "I think something's broken," he said, going green as he tried to move his leg.

"Yes, there are quite a few things broken." Ginny said, flustered. She retrieved a leg splint from the drawer and attached it to his leg. That would have to do for now. "I'll heal that later. Tell me about this spell." She grabbed her wand from her back pocket and began to clean him up. She healed some minor bruises, and fixed his wrist as he talked.

"I really don't know. I didn't feel anything, though, so maybe it was a dud?" he said, eyeing her uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, Gin, this feels weird. We haven't seen each other for almost 5 years, and we're speaking to each other as if we were strangers."

Ginny sighed. She still loved him. "Look, Harry, technically we are. And I have to get you fixed up so you can get better, okay? So just tell me what else hurts," she said, cleaning blood from his chin. He had a bloody nose, too, she realized, healing that as well.

"Ginny…I…well, about the past few years, I'm sor—"

He was interrupted by a scream coming from the entrance to the medical tent. Ginny rushed over. "What's going on?" she asked, urgently. The man on the stretcher was writhing wildly, and looked as if he was in more pain than Harry had ever been in.

"Dunno…didn't see…something with the Avada…" one of the men carrying the body said quickly.

"Move." No one moved. "MOVE OVER NOW OR I WILL MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE HIM!" Ginny said powerfully, pointing at the man on the stretcher, and reminding Harry frighteningly of Mrs. Weasley and Professor McGonagall, all at once.

The men hastily stepped aside, and Ginny performed a complicated spell that stopped the man's screaming. "Put him over there, on the bed next to the window. Give him water; he'll be fine in a few days. And next time I tell you to move you bloody well do it or I stand by what I said before." The men laid him down on the bed, got his water, and hurried out. Ginny turned back to Harry, whose nose was bleeding again.

"Wow," was all he could manage, grinning slightly. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

Ginny didn't smile. "At medical school." She turned to heal Harry's leg.

"No, I mean the yelling…although, the spell was amazing too." He smiled at her, one of those smiles that used to make her knees go weak. This time, it only made her love him more, but also realize how much she hated this war and how badly he treated her the past few years.

"I get it from Mum. Don't move." She healed his leg, and she noticed that his shoulder was hanging strangely. "Sheesh, is there anything you didn't break?" She stood and moved behind his bed and prepared him to have his shoulder put back in its socket.

"Ok, so Harry, distract yourself." On a better day, she would have distracted him herself, but today was not a good day.

He barely managed to say 'Why?' before he shouted in pain. She shoved his shoulder back into where it should have been.

"Merlin, why'd you have to do that? Couldn't you just heal it?" he asked, massaging his shoulder.

"No," she answered tersely. He had 6 years of terseness to pay off for, anyway. She healed his nose again, and went to check on the man who had been brought in screaming. As she was making sure he was alright, Harry wondered if she hated him for leaving. She probably did. But now's the time to make up for it, he vowed to himself. Voldemort's almost gone. This should be good.

He smiled, and leaned back, but winced when he realized his leg was bleeding again. Hadn't Ginny just healed that a few seconds ago? He saw how she handled that screaming man; she was no amateur. So why was he losing so much blood?

"So…much…blood…" Harry passed out just as Ginny ran over to his bed.

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	3. Chapter 3 Help

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**Chapter 3 Help**

"Emily! Get over here and bring a blood-replenishing potion." Emily, thanks to her common sense, heeded Ginny's call and brought over the potion. Ginny held Harry's head, just like she had so many times when he was sleeping, and poured the steaming red potion down his throat. But the potion had no effect.

"What happened?" he said, groggily, later on when he woke up.

Ginny looked at him concernedly. "Well…I think that spell that you said didn't take actually did something horrible to you." She fussed with his bed sheets, seemingly avoiding telling him.

He waited for a moment and then asked, exasperated, "What?"

Ginny sighed. "I think that spell is preventing you from healing properly. Each time I've tried to heal your wounds, they open up again. You're loosing so much blood and…" she trailed off, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"And what?" He suddenly noticed that she was wearing a different sweatshirt and her hair was much messier than it had been before he passed out. He looked outside, and daylight was fading slowly. That didn't make sense…he'd been brought to the tent in the early hours of the morning…he hadn't slept a whole day, had he?

"Gin…what time is it?"

Ginny sighed again, patting his arm. "Harry, it's nearly six. You've been asleep for a very long time."

Six…okay, that was alright. Why, though, did Ginny look so concerned? He'd only slept a few hours, hadn't he? He looked questioningly at her.

"Harry," she said softly, "you've been asleep for twelve days."

"What? Twelve days?" Harry asked, shocked. He couldn't be out of combat for twelve whole days! Voldemort was growing weaker. Harry and the Order and all their apostles were killing more and more Death Eaters each day. It was almost time for Harry to do what he was meant to do. It was almost time for Harry to kill The Dark Lord. 

Harry couldn't be sick anymore. He needed to get back out there; he needed to finish this. "Ginny. I need to get out of here! Why can't you just figure out what's wrong with me and let me go?!" he said, rather rudely.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him and stopped checking his vitals. "Harry. It is not my fault that you are here," she said very slowly, annunciating each syllable. "I do not know what is wrong with you. You've been awake no more than five minutes, and you are already pestering me. Let me do my job so that you can do yours."

Harry stared at her, his mouth hanging open slightly. When did she become so sure of herself? If Harry had said that to her a few years ago, she would have blushed and mumbled something rude about him. He jumped when he saw her staring at him with an incredulous look on her face, and rearranged his mouth. "Sorry…it's just… I guess I'm not used to hearing you talk like that."

Ginny smiled. She certainly had changed. As for Harry, he was already as grown up as he was going to get. Being forced into war when he was barely of age did a lot to a man.

"Well, I think we've both changed. I'm definitely not the same person I was a few years back," she said calmly, her tone resorting back to its original easy manner. "Rest up, champ," she said, as she began to walk away.

"Yeah, 'cause there are so many other things I have to do here," he said, falling dejectedly back on his bed.

Ginny chuckled at his flippant nature and busied herself at her computer, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. The rest of the day was pretty easy for Ginny. It seemed as if the soldiers were getting more self-sufficient on Healing Charms; only a few serious cuts and breaks made it to the tent that day.

_What I really need is Hermione, _Ginny thought to herself, abandoning the pointless search for the answer to Harry's ailment. She gathered a pen and some paper, with the intent on Owling Hermione. Ginny knew she was busy with the Order, doing work far removed from the battle field, but Ginny was desperate. She scribbled a quick note, glanced over to Harry who was conversing in hushed tones with Lupin, and left for her private tent. She had a lot of work ahead of her, especially if Hermione was willing to help.

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